Thirty-two academics, critics and curators weigh in on the category of "contemporary art" in the new issue of October. Each respondent was asked to reply to a prompt, penned by Hal Foster, which suggests that contemporary art's distinction lies in its "very heterogeneity" where practice "seems to float free of historical determination, conceptual definition, and critical judgment." Foster argues that the institutionalization of contemporary art, through the creation of university programs, professorships, etc. devoted to the subject, as well as the dwindling relevancy of terms like "the neo-avant-garde" and "postmodernism" play a role in creating this entity known as "contemporary art." Quite a few of the replies really take Foster to task and it's an excellent read. The only voice missing is that of artists themselves, which I feel could have rounded out the discussion in an interesting way. Free pdf available through the link below.

Pablo of the blog Centre For the Aesthetic Revolution put together a nice list of independent art schools in Latin and South America, you can read it here. I thought his list could be a useful resource for our readers. If there are other programs in the region missing from his list, feel free to post them below in the comments section.

Don't have access to a time machine, but want a taste of the Kitchen's programming during the late 1970s? Look no further than the Essential Repertoire Festival, which begins tonight and runs through the weekend at Issue Project Room. Organized by the experimental music series Darmstadt, the festival will restage works originally performed at the Kitchen's New Music New York concerts from 1979, curated by Rhys Chatham. Composers slated to present their 1970s-era work at Essential Repertoire include “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Connie Beckley, David Van Tieghem, Jill Kroesen, Jon Gibson, Ned Sublette, Peter Gordon, Peter Zummo, Petr Kotik, Phill Niblock, and a special performance of Meredith Monk's Dolmen Music by the M6. Check the full schedule here.

The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation's Arts Writers Grant Program just announced the grantees for 2009. Three of the twenty-six writers selected for the 2009 grant cycle have participated in Rhizome's Writers Initiative program - Gene McHugh, Ed Halter, and Geeta Dayal. Congratulations to them and the other winners this year! Awards are distributed across five categories—articles, blogs, books, new and alternative media, and short-form writing. You can read about individual projects here. I usually repost the call for the Arts Writers Grant Program to the blog each year, so stay tuned for more information regarding the 2010 cycle.

Now 11 years old, La Superette has become the go-to spot for inexpensive DIY accessories and projects by independent artists and designers. Shop for hacked clothes, crafty housewares, and handmade accessories amid temporary art installations and live music. Go here for the full list of participating artists and a performance schedule, admission is free.

From December 11th through the 23rd, Postmasters Gallery will give their space over to "bright young artists" to sell their work. The press release promises "perfect gifts" like a treasure map, a coyote tail, a breast mountain, a set of wooden blocks, and a paper lion coming out of a paper captain's beard. Not exactly the commemorative plates Grandma wanted, but at least you'll make it a holiday to remember.

If you want to make hack-tastic gifts yourself, attend one of Eyebeam's Holiday Hackshop workshops on December 12th from 1-6pm. Brighten your bike, make a Sno Globe, create an interactive DJ Station, or laser cut your own ornaments.

From the description, the Degenerate Craft Fair sounds like a smaller and punker version of the Renegade Craft Fair. The DCF is in its first year, and it will jump locations from Bushwick to Williamsburg to Chelsea over the next three weeks, might be worth checking out?

Art Basel Miami Beach premiers the Oceanfront this year, a new space on the beach that will serve as the platform for Art Video, Art Film, Art Perform, and Art Basel Conversation. West Coast artist Pae White was commissioned by Creative Time and ABMB to design the space. She produced an ambitious interactive cityscape of large color blocks made from scaffolding and printed fabric. Comfy seating and spaces for eating add to the communal atmosphere of the installation.

On Saturday, December 5th from 7 - 8:30pm, curator Meredith Johnson presents video works by Jill Magid and Kon Trubkovich that explore issues of surveillance and control. Magid’s show "Authority to Remove" is currently on view at the Tate Modern.

Chase Community Giving on Facebook is awarding grants to non-profit organizations. Please, if you have a Facebook account and 25 seconds to spare--vote for us at the link below. (Note that Rhizome is listed under our legal name 'Rhizome Communications, Inc.')

Since 1999 UK artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt have worked with digital animation to transcend the constraints of time, scale and natural forces; they explore the world beyond human experience, questioning our very existence.

The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries. All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, set to recordings of space scientists excitedly describing their visualization techniques. Magnetic Movie delves into Earth's inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent 'whistlers' produced by fleeting electrons. Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?

Max Lawrence's installations
incorporate a device he refers to as a "relationship amplifier",
based on the electronic principle of a Darlington Pair (in electrical
science, a set of two transistors that amplify weak signals into
stronger and sharper signals for both audio and microprocessing).
Lawrence theorizes: "The relationship amplifier is based on the
principle that a pair of people can amplify each other's strengths,
weakness, and in some cases, create a net result much greater - as if
created out of nothing - then the product of the pair by
themselves."